for our july http://www.seajug.org meeting we have Eva Andreasson from Azul systems down in the bay area coming to talk to us about GC algorithms & semantics in the JVM and how their company solves issues in this space for the JV
I generally find women more well represented in the QA, project management & product development areas .. at least as compared to software development. Maybe it's just a mis-perception .. funnily enough, there was a parallel thread recently on the seattle tech startups mailing list about this very topic. here's a response to that thread about resources for women in computing & starups: On Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 11:06 AM, Maya Bisineer <[email protected]> wrote: > So late to this, but here are the resources I use -> > > (while working with women devs is awesome, it is all about finding a > supportive community that values learning ... so I go where I can > teach/learn the most - so some of these below are just great resources. > Also, considering I know little about your exact needs ... There a LOT of > women devs but we are all on different schedules and spread out, so it has > been pretty hard for me to get something going - I did try at one point. ) > > 1. My greatest learning has come from participating in StartupWeekend. If > your goal is to do some pair programming over the weekend, make that a > priority and participate in a StartupWeekend. Best way ever to get to know > people and learn at the same time. > > 2. http://www.meetup.com/SeattleRailsBridge/ > Elsie Worthy and Renée De Voursney from Blue Box Group organized and ran a > super awesome Rails training for women. I hope they have more. I suggest > joining that meetup group and connecting with those women. > > 3. http://www.devchix.com -> I am subscribed to the mailing list. > > 4. Femanomics -> a wonderful Google group with loads of techie/startup > women. Started by Tara Hunt. > > 5. http://www.seattlerb.org/ -> I have never been to a meetup, but a > number of men and women who tutored the Rails Bridge class are a part of > this group. everyone was incredibly supportive and they encouraged everyone > at all levels to attend their meetup if you are working on a Rails project. > > 6. I go to HopsAndChops (run by @DaveSchappell) and always meet great > people in the Seattle tech community there. > > 7. A number of great women in the startup community here > > Jennifer Cabala and Sasha Pasulka are at StartupWeekend. They are > incredibly smart and supportive of women in tech and startups. Jennifer even > had a couple of Founder Friday meetups (for women) > > Tessa Taylor - Beer2Buds - > http://www.linkedin.com/pub/tessa-taylor/7/738/784 > Tessa is great and had mentioned that she is open to coworking when I met > her at railsbridge. > > Maria Zhang - Founder of UrbanQ > > Lindsey Harper - Founder of Swayable > > And all these folk (including the ones that responded on this thread). > > If you connect with a few of these people, you will not feel like "one of > the few women" in the room even if that is the case ;) That is all that > really matters. The Seattle startup community is pretty awesome (men and > women) ...all the best :-) > > On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 1:46 PM, Melissa Rice <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello all, > > In the past several weeks I've received a number of friendly emails > (off-list) which all have "women in python" as the theme. For instance: > > 1. Several people have forwarded me a link to pyLadies, a female > programmers group. > > 2. Several people have asked me why more women don't attend SeaPIG > meetings. [I don't know.] > > 3. Several people have pointed out to me that women are grossly > under-represented in (a) programming generally, (b) python programming in > particular, and (c) python startups in particular. > > I think this conversation is better taken to the list, but I am grateful to > each person who sent me something, for their thoughtfulness. > > So here are the points I would like to raise that come to mind as a result > of these emails: > > 1. People at SeaPIG have always treated me like a programmer (which I > appreciate) and not like a "female programmer" (as though that were > different than a regular programmer). Thank you. I have no complaints myself > about SeaPIG and therefore would not feel comfortable spearheading any > effort to address the lack of women at SeaPIG meetings. > > 2. If someone has not felt welcome at a SeaPIG meeting for reason of sex, > race, ethnicity, religious views, sexual preference, or other factors > irrelevant to programming, or any reason, really, that person should please > speak to someone about it so that the organization can make a correction. > > 3. I don't know why there are so few women coming to our meetings. You > would have to find those women who are *not* coming and ask them. So anyone > who is concerned about this matter: if you know a woman who used to come to > SeaPIG meetings and no longer does, please ask her why. If you know women > who program or might like to program, perhaps consider inviting these women > to SeaPIG meetings. In this way, each person who wishes for a better gender > balance can have an impact. > > 4. My philosophy is best expressed by Gandhi's statement that we should be > the change that we seek. The change I would like to see is that all people > in the world can be free to pursue the work that is their heart's desire, > whether that be python programming or something else, and that there not be > any segregation or restriction based on irrelevant factors. As a result, I > am not interested in programs or organizations which are exclusive (i.e., > women's groups, for example). Personally, I'm a humanist, not a feminist. > > 5. SeaPIG is a community, so I think it will work best if each person in > the community would take some action, however, small, toward those goals > which are important to themselves and the community. So, for instance, here > are some things which have been discussed off-list and/or on-list which > could turn into community efforts if there is interest and a willingness to > actively participate: > > a. If you think gender balance is important, please find women to invite to > the meetings. > > b. If you or someone you know feels treated badly at SeaPIG meetings let's > discuss that and resolve it. > > c. If you want another PyDay, please consider what you can contribute to > making it happen and start a committee of like-minded people. Not knowing > how to do it is not an excuse. There are plenty of people around who can > share knowledge if others contribute some elbow grease. > > d. If you want to create or join a startup, consider forming a group of > like-minded individuals who can serve as a support circle for each other. > Again, you don't have to have answers or expertise, just a common > destination. Start discussing it on the list and it can move off list when > it gets organized, if it turns out not to be of general interest. > > e. If you want more meetings with good talks or mini-talks, then please > start preparing one. You don't have to be an expert, you just have to know > something (or learn something) which is of interest to others. I've learned > something interesting at every talk I've attended. Thanks to everyone who > took the time to prepare a talk. > > I'm not complaining about anything or advocating any particular change for > SeaPIG. I'm just trying to say: if you have a vision of what SeaPIG should > be like, please don't hesitate to consider what actions you might take to > contribute to that. > > Thanks for your patience. Back to programming.... :-) > > -Melissa > ----- > Dr. Melissa Rice, PhD > Full Moon Technical Solutions, LLC > 14202 60th Ave, NW > Stanwood, WA 98292-4808 > email: mailto:[email protected] > phone: 360-654-0709 > cell: 425-923-7713 > -- Nimret Sandhu http://www.nimret.org
